The Pool Pump - Lessons Learned

Well, things didn't go a smoothly as I hoped. They didn't go as badly as I feared, either. First lesson learned - don't try to move a sand filter when it is full of sand. I did this and the first two or three inches went very well, then it slipped off the slab and I broke the plastic base that supports the filter. So, I ran off to Big Orange and got a wet-dry vac to suck the sand out. Then I noticed I put major crack in the plastic base support. That doesn't look good. Once again, I'm in the car visiting pool supply places - long story short; this little plastic base is a $110 special order item. Ha! No thanks. A couple of hose clamps fitted together will do a fine job fixing my error. After that, it was a matter of blasting the earth with a pressure washer, sucking up the water with the new wet vac (much easier than a coffee can) and blasting a little more with the pressure washer. Now, some people might think a shovel is a good way of digging a hole. In some cases, shovels do work fine. But digging in the Arizona ground is very similar to digging solid rock. The soil here is a heavy clay. A friend had told me that saturating the ground with water helps ease the task, I just took his suggestion a little further. What a fantastic approach. Putting the pine cone attachment on the pressure washer allows me to quickly and easily cut the earth with great precision. A great way to do it (and cheaper than renting a jack hammer.) Another issue with doing work like this in Arizona is the heat. It's hard to stay interested in a project like this, so Sunday afternoon I decided I would take a rest and resume the project the next weekend. Hopefully, after a week of sitting fallow, the pool would not be too green. Friday afternoon, I resumed my job, glued all the PVC into place, refilled the filter (with the old sand) and fired it up. Backwash works well. Turn off the pump. Switch off the backwash. Turn on the pump. Pressure builds. Then a quiet little woosh and there is sand everywhere. Hmmm. Seems there is a bit of a problem. Next morning, Saturday, I empty out the filter turn it over and it seems I have discovered part two of why sand filters shouldn't be moved full. Yep, I've cracked the darn thing. I wait until the stores open and once again, I'm in the car off to buy a new one. A Triton II TR60 costs about $600. However, Checker Pool & Pump Supply on Indian Bend is having a sale. It's going to run me $427. Ok, fine. I don't have much of a choice. I buy a new filter and six bags of new sand. The mini cooper handles 300lbs of sand pretty well. I install the filter, and fire it up. This time it's working well. Sunday morning now. The new config has been running 20 hours and all is well. And I'm very happy this phase of the project is complete. The results are quite nice.

The Pool Pump - Moving things around

One of my first initiatives, now that I've stripped the back part of the yard, is to relocate my sand filter and the piping related to that. I've been digging things up for about a month now, and tomorrow I will attempt the herculean task of moving this thing.

Ok - I know everyone reading this (which is no one) is thinking "Really? you're going to move a sand filter? Do you know how much they weigh?"

Yes, the sand filter weights about 350lbs. And yes, I really am going to move it...full of sand. The reason for this is to gain a 2' x 7' section of yard so I can have a little more space for a fountain and water garden. I'm only moving the thing about 2' in a diagonal direction - moving it to a slab I poured where the level and tape are in the photo. I expect it to be quite difficult.

I guess the upside of that is it wont be half as hard to move it as it will be to take it out someday! (Yes, I've considered that too and decided that since it is only 40lbs empty, when that eventuality comes, it will simply have to be emptied first before removing it.












Here is a list of challenges:

1. I am still waiting to acquire one last 1 1/2" PVC ball valve.
2. I am expecting this thing to be very heavy
3. Once I cut the pipes, how much water is going to come out of them
4. How can I minimize #3 above
5. Will there be enough room between the filter and the pump to put in proper housing
6. Since I am using a pressure washer to dig up the dense earth, will I have enough yard space to bail things out
7. Am I putting too many bends in the system?
8. Will I be able to break the slab just enough to run the pipes but not so much that it undermines the area where the pump sits
9. Can I get a little more of the digging done this afternoon?
10. Will I have any leaks
11. Have I thought enough about how all those pipes are going to run?
12. Is it going to be really hot tomorrow?

I'll let you know how it goes.

The Building Permit - Not Quite Enough

My last post was just prior to heading down to City Hall to talk about my building permit. Although I did not get my permit, I have to say they were incredibly helpful and friendly.
Pulling out my slightly better than amateur drawings, I could see the man holding back his chuckles. I wondered if he could see that I, too, was trying not to chuckle. After all, if a real contractor was applying for this permit, they would certainly be held to a much higher standard. As the "dumb homeowner", I'm granted a little bit of leeway. In reality, the plans are not bad.
There were a couple of details missing from my plans; how I was going to tie the slab overpour to the existing, how I was going to secure the base plate to that slab and the real doozey... how far from the centerline of the street.
Well, that last point has opened up a can of worms. It seems that my rectangular shaped lot has one side measuring 110 feet and the other side measuring 155 feet. Anyone who has taken 7th grade geometry can quickly see that this is impossible - it is a rectangle, after all, and two sides must be equal in length. This discrepancy is caused by the fact that my lot was originally 110 and 155, but the prior homeowner deeded the extra nub of land back to the community. So now, city hall has records which show the proper shape, but the wrong dimensions. Other than having to go out and buy bigger paper, I am faced with a challenge. Do I replicate the mistaken dimensions? Or do I correct the mistake and report the proper dimensions, which will, no doubt, trigger a full survey of my lot - at my expense?
I think I will just keep drawing and try to get back to city hall next week.

The Building Permit - Why do I need this?

There are a number of "permissions" I need to get in order to do this little project. In truth, I really hemmed and hawed about whether to do this under the radar or not. In the end, I decided to do the whole thing 100% legal. Here are my reasons why:

• If I ever go to sell this place, I don't want any problems with any inspectors
• If there is ever a need to file an insurance claim, I don't want any problems with any inspectors
• There is electrical involved in this project. All new service off the panel needs to have a permit.
• The prior owner had an all out war with the neighbor. I suspect she would be enthusiastically continue that war with me.
• When I went to city hall to ask a few questions, they were really nice and helpful
• During the same visit to city hall, they told me they get calls every single day with neighbors ratting out other neighbors for violations and sometimes non-violations
• I am thinking about running for the board of our HOA (more on that at a later date)

So, the first set of permissions I need is from the city. They need to be certain that I am not doing anything wrong like getting too close to the neighbors or dropping the roof on my head. And I'm sure if they can bring some extra revenue in, that would be nice also.

I thought I would put that out there, before going down to city hall with my plans this afternoon.

The Office - HVAC decision

The more I looked into the subject of a ductless system, the more cornered I felt. At the onset, I was prepared to buy the unit and install it myself. Then, the more i read, the more i realized that if I did install it myself, I would basically have no warranty at all. Ok, fine. I agreed (with myself) to pay a professional HVAC technician to install it. That quickly led to the realization that the installer is also the vendor (one throat to choke - a good idea, actually). Well, maybe there are exceptions to that, but I could spend weeks finding that individual, so I've agreed with two basic givens:
1) A professional should - and will - install my 9000 BTU mini split ductless AC and heat pump
2) That professional will also go through the process of acquiring the recommended equipment

Having come to terms with those two facts, I then set forth to get quotes for installing this system. As everyone knows, a minimum of 3 quotes should be received before making a decision.

Quote #1 - called a well known outfit here in Phoenix area, Chas Roberts. The sales guy was pleasant and informed. He was off-schedule, meaning he came 3 hours early which might have been more convenient for him, but I schedule my days carefully and it's a bit annoying to have to move things around at the last minute. His quote, which never specifically stated the exact equipment to be installed, came in at around $2800. Wow! Considering the unit itself (undisclosed in the quote provided) probably costs about $1200 retail, that's a pretty sizable markup. So the extra $1600 must go towards warranty, the 3 hours or less it takes to install, and...??? Hmmm, think I'll look for a better price.

Quote #2 - called a really well known outfit here in Phoenix, Goettel (sp?). They were on-time and also pleasant. I think the rep was fairly new because he had to make a phone call to confirm some information. At the end of my very brief interview with him, I don't him not to bother writing up a quote. Now, remember, in this situation all electric will be provided exactly as they specify, slab will be in place and ready, all new construction and no working barriers. This is an 81 square foot space. Guess how much. Ok, I'll tell you; "somewhere between $7500 and $9000". Oh, c'mon now, it's air conditioning. A price like that makes me think I should get a fan and have two blocks of ice delivered every morning and in the winter, cashmere, lot's of it.

Quote #3 - called a local outfit. They were busy. Called again. They will call back. Called again. Called again. No answer. Called again, "we don't sell those". I'm estimating that quote equal to or in excess of my entire lifetime earnings.

Quote #4 - The guy answers his phone himself. He bids his own jobs. Shows up on time, reeking of cologne (because he is doing a job that morning in a cosmetics shop - whew! glad he explained that!) I think, he might actually do real work as well - which doesn't matter to me if he does or doesn't, but it does say something about him. Where did I find Aaron? Through a friend of mine who is a general contractor. Aaron looks at the space, tells me he only works with Fujistu Halcyon mini splits because they are the best. Informed, pleasant, able to respond quickly. Good. Good. Good. I got a feeling about this guy. So he says he'll have the quote to me via email later that evening. It shows up. It detailed, concise, specifies the exact equipment and the price is $2200. A quick trip to the BBB website and...

Winner! Winner! Chicken dinner!

Aaron at Infinite Cooling and Heating gets the job. I look forward to having them install my Fujistu Halcyon 9RL mini split system.


Now, one thing I have to say, and I'll elaborate a bit more on my next few posts. Budget. Oooh. That stings a little bit. (and one last time, I would be happy to install this unit myself, but the warranty... I check the retail price, it's about $1400-$1500, which means that, at most, I'm paying the contractor $800 for the work, that seems very fair to me.)

The Yard - Naked

When I purchased this house, the backyard was a mess. Looking back at the photos, it actually looks quite nice; lush. However, there was a lot of wasted space and it just wasn't what I wanted. Also, the two queen palms and I didn't get off to a good start - at $25 to $50 a year to have them pruned, I decided they offered me nothing and would have to go. Had they been Date Palms - much lower to the ground, indigenous to this area and offering shade - I would have probably left them there.
After removing all the rocks in the yard (mixed throughout with tiny little dog poo) my next big project was to deal with the trees, the vines and the barrier wall used to conceal the pool pump. I wasn't really sure where I was going with it and as the project has unfolded, I'm now at a much more informed point then I was when I started.


Having the trees and stumps removed cost me $500. Growing up, I cut down a lot of trees so I thought it was pretty high of a price. However, this ain't no country livin', so I have to pay crazy prices for small tasks. The service was great and I would use Branch Management again, should the need arise (in all fairness,they were the cheapest quote I got).

In addition to removing the trees, I removed the railroad ties that were set vertically in the ground and also took down the nasty vine stuff that was strangling everything in it's sight.

















Now, I have a fully naked backyard. Ready for moving the sand filter, building a fountain and a water garden and, eventually, artificial grass.

Yeah, I know it looks like hell right now, but in a month or two it should look slightly better than hell. I hope.